Stark Deck

By Nipponb, in 4. AGoT Deck Construction

I have been wanting to see decks for what is being played out there now, but been disappointed to not find much. Then I realized, I haven't bothered to post a deck why should anyone else. Below is the current Stark Deck I have been running. It has seen many changes as the new cards have come out, but the style has remained the same.

Defensive Swarm - Stark - Kings of Winter

----- Plots (7) avg income: 3.2 -----
A Time for Ravens x1 A Change of Seasons F59
The Winds of Winter x1 The Winds of Winter F40
Summoning Season x1 Core Set B181
Wildfire Assault x1 Core Set L191
The Power of Arms x2 Core Set S200
Siege of Riverrun x1 Five Kings Edition U235

----- Characters (41) avg cost: 2.3 -----
* Robb Stark x2 Kings of the Sea F33
* Catelyn Stark x2 A Time of Trials F21
* Arya Stark x2 City of Secrets F1
Hungry Mob x3 City of Secrets F2
Northern Cavalry Flank x2 Scattered Armies F103
Northern Infantry x2 Scattered Armies F104
Bolton Refugee x3 Refugees of War F83
Ranger of Winter x3 The Winds of Winter F25
* Maester Vyman x1 The Winds of Winter F26
Carrion Bird x2 The Winds of Winter F35
* Jeyne Westerling x2 A Song of Summer F6
* Ser Rodrik Cassel x1 Core Set S4
* Eddard Stark x2 Core Set S5
* Robb Stark x1 Core Set S8
* Sansa Stark x1 Core Set S9
* Hodor x2 Core Set S12
Knight of the Tumblestone x2 Core Set S18
* Jory Cassel x1 Calling the Banners F101
* Old Nan x1 The Battle of Ruby Ford F81
Midnight Sentry x3 The Battle of Ruby Ford F91
* King Robb's Host x1 The War of Five Kings F1

*Randyl Tarly x2 Kings of the Sea F45 (Added as was not listed on tzumainn.com)

----- Locations (12) avg cost: 0.9 -----
* Winterfell Castle x2 Core Set S25
* Lord Eddard's Chambers x1 Core Set S28
Great Keep x3 Core Set S29
Godswood x2 Core Set S32
Narrow Sea x3 Core Set B99
Street of Steel x1 Core Set S139

----- Attachments (4) avg cost: 1.5 -----
White Raven x2 The Winds of Winter F24
* Nymeria x1 Core Set S2

Seafarer's Bow x1 Kings of the Sea F40 (Added as well for same reasons.)

----- Events (3) -----
Winter is Coming x2 Core Set S156
To Be a Wolf x1 Sacred Bonds F44

This deck loves to go second, and tends to survive resets very well. With four claim (2) plots, it can make it difficult for people stay on the board with it. The deck has only lost a handful of times, and most of those are due to pilot error. From what I have seen it isn't like many of the Stark decks out there, but again that could be just not seeing many decks published. As a note: This deck doesn't require Winter to be in effect to win. It does help, but unless there are Rangers of Winter or Catelyn and Arya in shadows, I don't worry about winter too much.

Just some quick thoughts I had as I first read through the deck list:

- I don't usually run multiple copies of unique characters unless they are fairly important to what I want my deck to do. I almost never run 3x unless they are very important and I think I can protect them or that they won't end up in my dead pile (e.g., new Shadows version of Arya) leaving me with unusable cards in my hand (which, with very little extra draw for Stark is big problem). So I would probably not run 3x of Robb, especially of two different versions, unless I thought he had an important role in the deck.

- If this deck does well going second, I assume that means you're winning challenges as defender a lot, so consider Storm Dancer. It'll let you draw one card if you win as defender or 3x if it is Winter and you have a card in Shadows (which is possible with this deck).

I must confess I usually only run two of a unique as well. This has been a new experiment with the deck, but so far it has worked. The two Robbs with King and renown are very important to the deck. The old Robb remains as a back-up incase I need to get someone killed beyond what I can do with claim.

I have also ran Storm Dancer in the deck for awhile, but found I often didn't play it in order to keep a strong character advantage on the field. The other problem was while my deck loves for it to be winter, a lot of the folks I play against play summer so I can't count on Winter staying in play. I don't need to draw one card that badly. Storm Dancer was the last cut I did to keep my deck at 60 when I added the King Robb and Robb's Host.

Thank you for the comments, I should be getting some play in with this deck later this week. I will let you know if the 3 Robbs really hurt me. So far in 5 games it has been a none issue.

Having played against (and lost to) this deck I can say that, though counterintuitive, the multiple uniques work.